Milwaukee-based rootsy folk band Field Report, led by singer-songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Christopher Porterfield, have been performing since 2012.

After three full-length albums in six years and plenty of touring in between, the band feels it’s doing things the right way.

On its latest album, “Summertime Songs,” the band crafted 10 thought-provoking songs.

Although still not a household name, Field Report has increased the band’s name over the past few years. From playing at Paradigm Coffee to Sheboygan’s summer concert series in 2015 to the Weill Center on Thursday night, Porterfield — along with drummer Devin Drobka, guitarist/keyboardist Thomas Wincek and bassist Barry Clark — has seen the group’s stock rise over the years.

Porterfield spoke with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin about the current happenings with Field Report.

On the overall theme of the band’s latest album, “Summertime Songs”: "It’s a little bit more produced than our earlier records … and that was by design," Porterfield said. "We took our time in the studio and we were pretty meticulous with how we wanted to frame it aesthetically. But as far as what the songs are about, I think it was just still about uncertainty and fear and not knowing what comes next.

"All the songs were written in the lead-up to the last election cycle, so there was a lot of fear and mistrust in the air," Porterfield added. "Also, my wife was pregnant with our first child, so there was a lot of uncertainty on my end personally. Like 'What does this mean?' 'Am I going to be a good parent?' 'Am I ready for this?’' All that stuff. So, there’s just a lot of themes of uncertainty. But ultimately, I think there’s a glimmer of hope in the record. And although it’s a record about being nervous or afraid or uncertain, it’s framed in a way that functions really well driving in your car. It’s sort of like folk songs, but a Phil Collins record or something."

Milwaukee band Field Report(Photo: Provided)

On the band’s trajectory: "It feels good," Porterfield said. "This project has been around since 2012, that’s when the first Field Report record came out. And we’ve just kind of been taking the slow growth path, we’ve never really blown up. But we’ve been working hard and figuring out how to work better, just making friends one at a time. And it is rewarding to see the size of the rooms increase and the number of people being interested in our work increase. It makes me feel like we’re doing it the right way."

On the direction of his career: "I’m really grateful for the direction that my life and everything has taken," Porterfield said. "I can’t imagine going back to an office job, I love the job that I have. I love writing and performing and connecting with people. I still have moments of doubt. I’ll talk to my wife and tell her that maybe it’s better for the family if I get a real job, and she shuts me down instantly. She knows that if I wasn’t doing this job I wouldn’t be as good of a partner or father, I would just be bummed out and depressed. So that’s the way I can contribute best for my family right now is to be creatively fulfilled, where I feel like I’m doing important work that nobody else can really quite do it like I do. Nobody else has my particular point of view. So, I can’t imagine doing anything else."

On storytelling and writing lyrics: "I’ve learned that if there’s a moment or a line or an image or an experience or a sound that resonates with me just in day to day life, I need to capture that and write it down. So, I always carry a notebook. And these notebooks get filled up and then I go back and go through and kind of remember what prompted me to write that down in the first place," Porterfield explained. "Typically, if there was resonance initially, it’s somehow still going to be resonant, and if it resonates with me, chances are it might resonate with my audience, too. Sometimes they’re just starting points for other moments of inspiration, but a lot times I’ll hang them on a wall like I’m a photographer that captured moments and then you got to put them together until you got them framed and polished up nice and tight. Then, you start hanging them next to each other and see what stories reveal.

"One thing that’s nice about songwriting that’s very different from journalism is that in songwriting, it doesn’t have to be completely true to be true," he added. "And that’s a unique thing of the form."

On writing and recording “Summertime Songs”: "We did take more time on this record than we have in the past," he said. "In the past, we’ve had maybe a couple of weeks of studio time and we finish it up from there. But this one we made here in Milwaukee at a studio called Wire & Vice. Being that it was pretty much in my back yard, we’d just go there every day and just work. We’d treat it almost like a painting studio where you’d do something one day and respond to it the next day in a different light and a different day. So, we kind of built it that way. It was more of an elaborate and collaborative studio process."

On the meaning behind album opener “Blindspot”: "That one is about … we’re on a track and we’re really focused on it," Porterfield said. "And sometimes we’re just doing things out of selfishness and we don’t necessarily see the impact that it can have on other people around you. Sometimes it can take a moment of destruction or injury or something in order to get us out of that one-track focus and realize that we’re all actually connected. And that our actions do have consequences. Whether or not we adhere by them, somebody probably does."

On putting together the album’s track sequence: "It took us a while to figure out to make the record speak as a record," he said. "I know, in this technological age, a lot of people are discovering music a song at a time on streaming services, but I still really like records. I like openers and closers and transitional tunes. A lot of tracks sort of shifted around as we finished them and positioned them next to one another.

"'Everything I Need' was probably always going to be the closer," Porterfield said. "It started off as close to a love song that I’ve ever gotten. I was just talking to my wife about going through life together, the strange journey that we’re on. That one, after the fact, has become kind of a song to everybody in the United States who are feeling like things are changing on them and they don’t know what to do about it."

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On playing new songs in the live setting: "We were on the road for several months earlier in the year, closer to the album release," Porterfield said. "And we went all over America, so we feel pretty good about how we’re presenting (the new songs) live.

"I just got back from a six-week solo tour," he added. "So that’s been an interesting thing, too, presenting these songs that were made in a produced environment in a totally stripped-down solo environment. I like doing both; I like playing solo and I really like playing with my band. And I found I learn about the one I’m not doing when I’m doing the other one. So, I’m really excited to get back into rehearsals with everybody and prepare for the Sheboygan show."